Former Deschutes County Commissioner Dennis Luke is tapped by Governor Kitzhaber to serve on the Oregon Governing Board of the Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI).

Luke says his experience serving as county commissioner has given him a good "education" in geology and mining issues.

"Back in the 90's I was appointed to the Seismic Advisory Commission for the Governor. And that's when they started getting into the really big earthquake that they predict will happen off the Oregon coast. DOGAMI is developing rules and mitigations for a big earthquake; so they deal with earthquakes, they deal with geo-thermal; they deal with mining and water resource and reclamation, those kinds of things."

Luke says he appeared before a Senate committee on Wednesday and final approval should be Tuesday.